Police have decided not to refer a case involving breach of trust allegations against Yoo Seung-min, president of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee and former president of the Korea Table Tennis Association, ruling the case unfounded.
According to police on Friday, the Financial Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency recently cleared Yoo on grounds of insufficient evidence in a case in which the Citizens' Solidarity for Sports and others filed a complaint last July, accusing him of occupational breach of trust and other charges. The same conclusion was reached for Kim Taek-soo, director of the Jincheon National Training Center and former vice president of the Korea Table Tennis Association, and Jung Hae-chun, former secretary general of the Korea Table Tennis Association, who were named in the same complaint.
On the central issue of alleged sponsorship incentive payments, police concluded that Yoo and others did not have the authority to decide on such payments. The Citizens' Solidarity for Sports and others had claimed that during Yoo's tenure leading the table tennis association, individuals who attracted sponsorship money were paid a portion of the funds as performance bonuses based on invalid regulations. Allegations were also raised that some of these funds were ultimately delivered to Yoo under a borrowed name. However, police determined that there was insufficient evidence to conclude that Yoo received the money in question.
Police also found insufficient grounds for allegations of obstruction of business, in which Yoo was accused of intervening in the selection of national team members for the Tokyo Olympics, saying decisions were made within proper procedures and authority. A claim that a table tennis venue run by Yoo's family gained unfair profits by being selected as a venue for Division League matches was also not accepted. Allegations that he brought his parents along on a study tour of a U.S. league and a claim that he used Korean Air-sponsored flight tickets for private purposes were likewise deemed to lack sufficient evidence.
The complainants, including the Citizens' Solidarity for Sports, are reportedly reviewing options such as requesting a reinvestigation.
